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If you are new to buttercream sugar cookie decorating, these Valentine sugar cookies are perfect for you to get introduced to the hobby. Not only are they so cute, the sparkly sanding sugar hides any imperfections that your piping skills may have as a beginner.
You only need a handful of decorating tools as well: some icing bags, decorating tips, sanding sugar, and gel food dye.
If you’re wanting a chocolate cookie with this design, make sure to check out my chocolate brownie cut out sugar cookie recipe.
Bake and decorate these Valentine sugar cookies for your loved ones this Valentine’s Day for a delicious and cute treat.
Let’s get started!
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- Part 1: Gathering the Supplies for the Beginner-Friendly Valentine Sugar Cookies
- Part 2: Baking the Cookies and Setting up the Icing Bags
- Sparkly Pink Valentine Sugar Cookies with Buttercream Frosting
- Equipment
- Ingredients
- Buttercream Frosting
- Sugar Cookies
- Instructions
- Sugar Cookies
- Buttercream Frosting
- How to Decorate the Valentine Sugar Cookies
- Notes
- Make your buttercream icing according to the recipe and separate it into three bowls:
- Part 3: Decorating the Valentine Sugar Cookies with Buttercream Frosting
- How to Decorate the Pink Valentine Sugar Cookies
- Save the Tutorial for These Valentine Sugar Cookies
Part 1: Gathering the Supplies for the Beginner-Friendly Valentine Sugar Cookies
To decorate these Valentine’s Day sugar cookies with buttercream frosting, you will want to gather:
- 3 Icing bags
- One Wilton #4 tip and three couplers or three Wilton #4 tips
- Letter cookie cutters – L, O, V, E, and X
- Pink, brown, and yellow gel food dye
- Clear sanding sugar
- Ingredients for a crusting buttercream & sugar cookie dough – found below in recipe card
Part 2: Baking the Cookies and Setting up the Icing Bags
Use the recipe card below for the sugar cookie and buttercream frosting recipes.
Sparkly Pink Valentine Sugar Cookies with Buttercream Frosting
Soft and sparkly, these Valentine sugar cookies are decorated with vanilla buttercream frosting and clear sanding sugar sprinkles.
Print Pin Rate
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Keyword: Buttercream Sugar Cookies, Valentine Sugar Cookies
Prep Time: 30 minutes minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes minutes
Decorating Time: 1 hour hour
Total Time: 1 hour hour 40 minutes minutes
Servings: 18 cookies, depending on the size of the cookie cutter
Author: Leah Buehler
Equipment
Stand Mixer with Paddle Attachment
Rubber Spatula
Measuring cups and spoons
Medium Sized Mixing Bowl
Lined aluminum cookie sheet parchment paper or silicone lined baking sheet
Rolling Pin
Cookie cutters and tools see part 1 on this post for the specific tools needed
Ingredients
Buttercream Frosting
- ½ cup room temperature unsalted butter 4 ounces
- ½ cup room temperature salted butter 4 ounces
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 1 tbsp. vanilla extract
- 1-3 tbsp. whole milk
Sugar Cookies
- 1 cup cold salted butter cubed
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 3 cups all purpose flour measured with the scoop & level method
- 2 tsp. baking powder
- 1 egg
- 1.5 tsp. vanilla extract
Instructions
Remove all of the butter from the refrigerator. You will make the sugar cookies first but the butter for the frosting needs to come to room temperature before mixing.
Sugar Cookies
Preheat the oven to 350℉ and prepare an aluminum cookie sheet by placing either parchment paper or a silicone baking mat on it.
In a medium sized mixing bowl, combine the flour and baking powder and mix together. Set this aside.
Cube a cup of salted butter and then, in a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, combine the cubed butter with the granulated sugar. Mix until creamed together well.
To the stand mixer, add in the egg and vanilla extract and mix until combined.
Slowly add in the dry ingredients in the mixing bowl to the stand mixer.
Roll the dough out to 3/8" thick and use the cookie cutters to cut out the cookies. Place the cookies onto the prepared baking sheet and bake for 7-11 minutes or until the tops of the cookies no longer look wet. When baking the cookies, only bake 6-8 cookies at a time to leave proper space between each cookie to cook without spreading. Overcrowding the cookie sheet will cause spread.
Buttercream Frosting
In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, add the room temperature salted and unsalted butter and mix on high until light and fluffy.
Mix in the powdered sugar little by little. Add in the vanilla extract and milk about halfway through adding the sugar to help the frosting come together. Start with one tablespoon of milk and work up to three if needed, depending on the consistency you want. I like to aim for a peanut butter consistency or thinner.
Follow the directions in Part 2 for the specific way you will divide the buttercream and set up the icing bags.
How to Decorate the Valentine Sugar Cookies
Please refer to Part 3 of this blog post for all of the cookie decorating tutorials.
Notes
These buttercream sugar cookies are room stable for a few days on the counter. Otherwise, store in the freezer in an airtight container until ready to use, or for up to three months. You can also freeze the undecorated cookies and buttercream frosting three months in advance to decorating.
Make your buttercream icing according to the recipe and separate it into three bowls:
- One bowl will only contain about 1/2 cup – dye this bowl gold. I mix brown and yellow until I achieve a gold shade. There are many variations of gold so don’t get too caught up on making it perfect.
- The other two bowls will be equal in amount, dye one dark pink and one light pink.
If using couplers and one Wilton #4 tip, add couplers to each icing bag and then add the frosting. You don’t need to add the tip yet. If you have three #4 tips, simply add a tip into each icing bag and then add the frosting. Pour sanding sugar into a bowl or onto a plate.
Part 3: Decorating the Valentine Sugar Cookies with Buttercream Frosting
Check out the video tutorial showing the overall process for these cute and easy Valentine sugar cookies then follow the step-by-step photo series tutorial below.
How to Decorate the Pink Valentine Sugar Cookies
- Using the gold buttercream with tip #4, outline the letter cookie(s). You can outline a word at a time but don’t outline too many of the letters, as the frosting will start to dry and the sanding sugar won’t stick as easily.
- Using one of the pink shades of buttercream with the tip #4, fill in the rest of the cookie letter.
- Hold the cookie in your hand and flip it upside down into the bowl of sanding sugar. Press the cookie into the sanding sugar lightly until the cookie is covered. If the frosting got messed up, use your finger or a knife to manipulate the frosting back into place.
- Repeat steps 1-3 for all of the cookies, doing half of the cookies in light pink and half in dark pink.
That’s it! Don’t they look absolutely amazing without much effort at all? Seriously, you can whip these Valentine sugar cookies out so fast, perfect for those procrastinators (like me).
You can leave these cookies out on the counter overnight to dry. They won’t dry completely like royal icing sugar cookies, but the outer layer will form a crust to help protect the design.
Just lightly lay a piece of parchment paper over the cookies to prevent any dust from flying onto them.
If you are bringing these cookies to a party, make sure to read my post on how to package and transport buttercream sugar cookies.
I’d love to know in the comments below, what is your favorite Valentine sugar cookie design? Is there a design you’d love for me to cover?
Don’t forget to check out my other Valentine sugar cookie tutorials!
Save the Tutorial for These Valentine Sugar Cookies
Use the image below to pin this super easy tutorial for Valentine sugar cookies to your Valentine’s Day board on Pinterest. Alternatively, use any of the social share icons on the top of the page to share it to your favorite social media site.
